On Pease and Stecker
 

The hiring of defensive line coach John Pease should have an immediate effect on the club's young linemen. The club has invested two No. 1 draft picks, Charles Grant and Johnathan Sullivan, and a second-round pick, Darren Howard, on linemen in the past four drafts, and the line hasn't lived up to its potential.

http://www.foxsports.com/content/view?contentId=2061972

On Pease and Stecker
 

Jeff Duncan /
Posted: 3 hours ago
Key role

The hiring of defensive line coach John Pease should have an immediate effect on the club\'s young linemen. The club has invested two No. 1 draft picks, Charles Grant and Johnathan Sullivan, and a second-round pick, Darren Howard, on linemen in the past four drafts, and the line hasn\'t lived up to its potential. Pease is regarded as a no-nonsense, high-energy coach with excellent teaching skills. He\'ll try to light a fire under Sullivan and Grant. The team is expected to make a strong attempt to sign Bucs free-agent RB Aaron Stecker. The Saints want a young player with speed and special teams ability backing up Deuce McAllister, and Stecker is a perfect fit.

Work to do

Along with Sullivan and Grant, OT Jon Stinchcomb will receive extra scrutiny in the offseason program. Stinchcomb has excellent fundamentals and is smart, but he needs to gain strength and agility to develop into a starting tackle. Coach Jim Haslett wants to hire a speed and conditioning specialist to work with the younger players, in particular WR Donte\' Stallworth, on avoiding the pulls and strains that bothered several players this past season.
Sound like an idea thats about a year late.
Also I think Stecker would be a good 3rd down back and a really good back-up and special teamer.

On Pease and Stecker
 

The more I read about this Pease guy, the more fired up I get.
I didn\'t know he was so respected and desired by other teams.

I honestly think if we didn\'t have Sully,Grant and Howard he may have followed Coughlin up to New York.

I think he\'s salivating at the mouth to get his hands on these guys. (that by itself sounds pretty bad doesn\'t it).

I think if you look at Carolina, they get all their pressure with their front 4. It appears to be a recipe for success.

On Pease and Stecker
 

John Pease is the best choice the saints could have made. He\'s smart as hell is a great teacher. He also is a great guy who can get the young players to buy into what he is teaching and produce results. I would expect the D-line to be greatly improved this year. Hell he might even make Venturi look like a genius. Championships are won on the line of scrimage and when the lines play better it makes even mediocre players look good.

On Pease and Stecker
 

Well said. And it applies to both lines of scrimmage.
I noticed from watching several Carolina games this year that when Steven Davis is 1st hit, it was usually a yard or two past the line of scrimmage. In contrast it seemed that Deuce was always 1st hit a yard behind the line of scrimmage. We need more power/strength on our O-line.

We have the beginnings of an awesome DL.
But we have an excess of DE\'s and 3 technique DT\'s. We don\'t have a true every-down 2-gap DT.

Whitehead is a GREAT back-up DE
K. Smith is a GOOD back-up DE/DT (at the 3 tech)
K. Allen is a deveolping back-up DE/DT (at the 3 tech)

Cornelius Griffin (FA-Giants) is a very solid every-down DT (2 gap).
Our DL would be absolutely complete with his addition, (or another 2-gap DT in the draft).

I\'ll bet Pease is dying to use his coaching talents on these kids.

I wonder if a DT would be more inclined to come here now that we have a well respected (and highly sought after) DL coach?

QUESTION: Isn\'t Chad Lavalais better suited to play the 3 technique in the NFL as opposed to the 2-gap?

On Pease and Stecker
 

I wonder if Pease would factor into any decision a D-Lineman might have in coming to the Saints. I think it might??

[Edited on 20/1/2004 by BillyC]

On Pease and Stecker
 

The Saints are still in need of a 2-gap lineman who can demand a double team. If sulli can improve his strenth in his upper body he might be the guy. Weakness in the center of the D-line spreads like a cancer through the defense,it allows the guards to get at the linebackers which the causes the SS to play closer to the line( why do you think Jay B. looked so good this year?) which puts more pressure on the D-backs to cover. In a two deep zone base defense this one weekness can be the difference between superbowl ( Pats, Cats) and sitting in front of your Mitzubishi ( Colts,Eagles,Cheifs,Rams etc). The revens would never have won the Superbowl without Siragusa.

On Pease and Stecker
 

Good points, although I don\'t necessarily agree with all of \'em. We had Grady Jackson who got double teamed often and we still couldn\'t stop the run. I think the problem is more to do with the linebackers than the D-linemen. Not to say that part of the problem isn\'t the linemen.

To truly stop the run requires a total defensive effort. The linemen must control their gaps and the linebackers must find the ball carrier. Sometimes it becomes necessary to commit a saftey to help stop the run. Ideally you would like to be able to stop the run without safety help, which seems almost impossible these days because of poor tackling.

So, I guess the question is, what is the biggest area of need? Linebacker or D-linemen. I say linebacker.

[Edited on 21/1/2004 by BillyC]

On Pease and Stecker
 

While its pretty obvious Howard, Grant and Sullivan will benefit from a coach like Pease, I think two of the biggest beneficiaries might be Kenny Smith and Kendrick Allen.
They both have a lot of talent, they just need to improve the little things. A guy like Pease may be just what they need to go from quality back-up to starter quality.
John Tice was on Buddy D last night and stated the Saints landed a good one, a real good one.

But I agree, a true 2-gapper is a must. And not some part time lazy fat-azz with flashes of brilliance followed by series after series of total disappearance.